I was still heavy with the information that was dumped on me than the food I ate. I kept quiet the entire ride back home. Dylan also didn't bother to get me talking or spill out my thoughts. The way he kept up his boundaries and respected the other person's boundaries was one of the great qualities that I loved in him.
As we entered the apartment, Dylan caught me by my hand, startling me. He tugs me to straighten my body to face him and said, "I know, you might be worried and having a lot of questions running in your head. Remember one thing, you may not be my real partner, but you are my real friend. So friends can talk openly." I looked into his eyes and saw he was concerned for me.
He thought I was scared about meeting his grandmother, but one thing that kept me circling the drain was that he was stuck in the past, and he was hurting. And probably having my hopes did go a few levels down with his confession today. My hopes to change the beast into my prince. I nodded at him, which made him loosen his grip around my wrist.
Dylan brought his tux and made my room look like a men's lounge with his stuff, making me regret having him over while I got ready. And it was weird to have a man in my room who was unbothered if I was walking around in my petticoat. And I pretended to be unbothered too when he was walking around in his underwear or just shirt on. He was becoming too comfortable, I thought, almost reminding me of a pretty old married couple.
"So is your whole family going to be there?" I asked, looking at him through my mirror. He was sitting on my bed, now wearing the shirt and pants. He looked cute with his tie, which was thrown around his neck loosely. "No, that's why I had to come here. If didn't, then they would've invited you there, and I don't think you're ready yet to come home."
Now that was a little bothering comment, even though I wasn't his real girlfriend. "What do you mean?" I asked. Dylan started tying his tie as he said, "Yeah, you will gradually find out what I am talking about." I turned around to look at him directly and asked, "what is your family exactly?"
Dylan smirked as he took one sock and started putting it on and said, "They are how most families are actually, but just a tad more important." He said as he flashed his big smile, making my heart stop involuntarily.
We were almost ready to go, and as we looked at the time, it was around 7:50 pm now. It took us around 15 minutes to arrive at the destination where the event was happening. It was an indoor studio that overlooked the Hudson River. We entered through the huge doors, where the beautiful maple wooden floors welcome us in, complimenting the settings of the entire place. Dylan extended his folded arm towards me. I readily took his arm, wrapping my hand around it.
This was probably that one that will announce to the world that we are in a relationship. As we entered, I could feel so many eyes on us, but I didn't know if they were looking at us with admiration or suspicion. Well, you have something to hide; no matter what you do and how you come across, you will always be scared at the back of your mind.
"Wow, this is not weird at all," I whispered to Dylan as we walked steadily into the main hall, passing by many strangers who kept staring at us. "Wait for a little more; you will know what's truly weird," Dylan said, bowing his head a little towards me to reach closer to my ears. "Now, let out a laughter as though I just cracked the biggest joke of the year," he continued. I give him a confused look and then broke into fits of laughter, making people stare even harder.
"Not that much! Now they must be thinking I made a joke about all of them." Dylan whispered, making me regret the weird laughter I just had. Maybe I was a bit nervous about the whole thing and didn't realize it until now. As we arrived at the main hall, Dylan started waving at an older woman who was wearing a golden flowy nightgown, making her look maybe a couple of years younger than she should be. "Come! Let's go and say hi to my Aunt."
Dylan pulled me as he walked towards her. "Hi Aunt Maggie, this is Megan. Megan, this is my father's youngest sister Maggie." Dylan introduced us. I smiled at her and extended my hand to shake hers. "Oh! It's you! I am so happy to finally meet you. "She said, taking my hand in hers, shaking it firmly. We stand near the staircase, which was attached to another room. I looked over Dylan's shoulder towards the door as I saw some moment around there.
I saw an old woman walking out of that door, looking majestic as though she was the Queen of England or something. She stepped towards the stairway, in her beautiful silver-colored, fully embroidered gown, which shined masked her age well. I wondered who it could be, and just in time, I notice Dylan's face, who was also looking at the old lady. I guess everyone in the room had their eyes on her.
The old lady came down the staircase and started smiling at Dylan, which came as a surprise to me. "You know her?" I whispered to Dylan. He smiled broadly at me as though he was going to tell me something shocking, and it was indeed shocking; "meet my grandma!" I blinked as I looked back and forth at Dylan and his grandma, who I was supposed to be winning over.
Before I could process or ask any more questions, we heard a familiar voice coming from behind us. "Hey, you guys!" We turned around to see Michael and Carol. I let out a sigh of relief to see two most familiar faces and one among them being my best friend. I needed her at this time the most. "Hey! You two are just in time. Granny is just about to speak." Dylan said with a wink. I looked at both Dylan and Michael as I was still not sure what was happening.
Just in time, a middle-aged man with a mic in his hand walked towards Dylan's grandma and began announcing. "Good evening! Ladies and Gentleman. I am so grateful to be hosting this wonderful charity event for children who are dealing with cancer across the country under the Hills Foundation. And it's my honor that we have the iron lady, the one that made this big vision possible, Dr. Lillian Hill here with us."
He said and looked over to her, who politely smiled at him and turned to look at all the audiences gracing them with her generous smile. It took me some time to get my head around all the information, that was thrown at me all at once. I looked at Dylan and then at her as though I couldn't believe my eyes or ears. "The Hills Foundation is yours?" I whispered. I have read many articles about them, and how they have been so generously building hospitals with the best facilities all over the US, and how they created a free clinic that offered patients care to those without any insurance.
This was wild. Dylan leaned in and whispered, "Not mine, my family's." He straightens his face to look forward as he realized his grandma was about to speak. I turned my head too, anticipating what she would be sounding like, and I remember Dylan's words that she was not going to be as easy as winning over Kizzy.
Lillian begins to speak, "I am so happy to be here! And this foundation has been able to eliminate many evils that prevent our society from becoming fair to those who need real support. And my sons, daughters and my grandson here, Dr. Dylan Hill, who had been sharing the same vision as me made this possible." As soon as she says his name out loud, everyone turns to look at him with eyes of admiration, which made me realize this was a way bigger problem than I thought.
She continues, "I am happy that my legacy is in good hands and that we will continue to be as helpful to the fellow humans in need, which I don't consider a charity but a necessity." As soon as she closes in the speech, the crowd erupts into applause. Carol pinches my hand, catching my attention, and whispers to me, "dude, you hit the jackpot!" I look at her still, not able to believe that I was spending my days in and out with a guy who owned a million-dollar legacy. "Don't tell me you didn't know either!" I asked.
"I didn't! I think it's self-explanatory from his surname. But we never noticed!" Carol said. I stood there, trying to see the whole picture and not panic.